Beyond the End of Time
by Dark Patrician
Summary: A one shot on what happened to the Master after "The End of Time" with a hint of Series 5 thrown in for good measure.


_I do not own Doctor Who...despite my attempts._

_Upon watching the End of Time once more, I found myself curious about what happened to the Master. And then after watching the first season with the Eleventh Doctor (who I think is just terrific), a thought popped into my head and slowly evolved into this. I suggest that after reading this you should watch a tribute to the Master created by the YouTube user Babelcolour, that gentleman is definitely one of the best video creators you will ever see. To set the scene…well, I actually saw this playing out one of two ways. Either A.) The Master is looking out into the universe imaging this conversation with the Doctor or B.) The Master has caught the Doctor in a trap and is speaking to his captured enemy. Which Master and Doctor? John Simm or a new incarnation for one and Matt Smith or a future incarnation for the other._

_Finally, I offer my sincere thanks to Tangerine-Alert a kind and brilliant person for helping me understand the Master better and a wonderful writer. Seriously, if you haven't read __Visited by a Doctor__ you don't know what you're missing._

I wonder, did you mourn my passing again Doctor? Did you cry once more? Was it because I died or are you crying at the thought of being the last of the Time Lords again?

What would you have done if I left a body? Would you perform another cremation or something else from another culture? A simple burial perhaps, or maybe a nice pyramid full of deadly traps, no, deadly is not your style at all Doctor. And so there you stand, Last of the Time Lords, The Oncoming Storm, mourning my death.

Why?

After all our time together, how long as it been, 907…967 years? I guess it's true what they say; after your nine hundredth birthday the years start to blend together.

Do you remember the old days Doctor? The days before the Time War? When you were Half-Human, or The Planner, The Blustering One in the Stupid Coat, The Nice One, The Bohemian, The Worthy Foe, The Comedian, or the First. Oh the things we saw: living plastic, prison, dæmons, sea monsters, that melted phase I went through, the Rani, not sorry to see her gone that is for sure, that cheetah planet…All our years together and you still believe that I have died?

Oh, my dear Doctor you have been naïve.

How did I survive? Is that what you are asking? Have you forgotten who I am?

I am the Master, Lord of Time!

There were many ways that it could have occurred.

Think about it, I had access to the Immortality Gate for an hour or two and I found a way to turn your precious human race into the infinitely superior Master Race. Once that was done, there were six billion, seven hundred, and twenty seven million, nine hundred and forty nine thousand, three hundred and thirty eight versions of myself on the planet; don't you think I could have spared one, two, or a thousand to solve the problem of my life force burning out?

Perhaps I simply regenerated and recovered before you could regain consciousness. And before you start, I know what you are about to ask, Why didn't your Dad…Mutt was it, or Matt, or Mott, oh it doesn't matter, why didn't he say anything? You seem to forget Doctor…. I am the Master.

It was a simple matter of looking the old man in the eye and laying on a bit of the classic, "I am the Master, and you will obey me!" Then I ordered him to forget and he did. How long has it been since I used that one Doctor? Oh I remember when you and I would battle repeatedly through the Earth's 1970s; those were our best battles Doctor, with you in your worthiest form.

Of course, just regenerating is the easy way out, maybe I did something else. A few hours is long enough to start the cloning process Doctor, and I did manage to set up a way of bringing myself back from the dead while I was Harold Saxon did I not? Although my dear Lucy did do her best to prevent that, always the woman isn't it Doctor?

Will I tell you how I survived? No, you have or at least at one time had an excellent brain, Doctor, though a bit pedestrian. I'll let you figure it out yourself; you always seemed to secretly enjoy the puzzles I left for you to solve.

But I will answer the question you won't ask because you keep hoping that your fantasy is the truth: "Why did I spare your life back there Doctor? Why I let you live after all that we have been through?"

Let's be honest, you want to believe that there is still a glimmer of that child that played on the hills of Gallifrey with you. You want the child that the Time Lords drummed into service. Oh, I did make a bad pun there didn't I?

Let's just say call it paying back a favor, Doctor. This is pay back for helping me with my hearing problem. The drums…those eternal drums…those Gallifrey damned drums…I can't hear them anymore.

The drumming has stopped and for the first time in centuries, I can think clearly.

And that should worry you Doctor, just think all those things that I've done. All those terrible things that I have done, I did those distracted, with my mind attacked by those drums. But now, my mind is focused, its edge honed, and a thousands different ways to conquer the Earth running through my mind like leaves in a hurricane. And if I cannot conquer well, you know me, what I cannot win by stealth, I will destroy.

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But I do not think I will act, at least, not yet.

No, I am not going soft or sympathetic Doctor, I think I will enjoy this silence first. I believe I will find a nice quiet corner of the Earth to rest for a while and bask in the silence. And then after a while, I will start our game again. I am eager for another swordfight. So for now, rest old friend, regenerate if you have got one, and then worry.

Worry that maybe I'll do something small and insignificant. Maybe I'll send a River off her banks, or dry up a Pond, maybe I'll do something that is not very Noble, then again I could take away the Ace you used to keep up your sleeve or perhaps I will Grant an old friend a visit. Oh yes Doctor, I am keeping well informed.

Yet, I don't think I'll do anything today. Let us just enjoy the silence for a while. But Doctor, remember we are not done, just taking a break. Enjoy the silence that will come from our lack of fighting. But do not get too comfortable Doctor because silence will fall.

_So, what do you think? Love it, hate it, indifferent toward it? Let me know. Also, see if you can catch the various little references I put in. Thank you for reading and please review._


End file.
